DO WE EVER LEARN FROM OUR MISTAKES?

By Sanjeewa Jayaweera

The latest media headlines have revolved around the statement made by the Member of Parliament (MP), Sarath Weerasekera (SW), as the chairman of the sectoral committee on national security, that the committee is against the privatization of Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) due to the potential risk to national security. I am not aware whether it was the unanimous view of the committee or that of the majority.

The Presidential Media Division (PMD) issued a press release stating, ” While acknowledging the factual content of the report, the government believes that it lacks a logical or scientific data analysis pertaining to the subject matter. To address this deficiency, it is necessary to examine the operation and regulation of information and communication technology service providers in Sri Lanka, analyze financial data related to the sector, understand Sri Lanka’s national ambitions in this field, assess the available capital capacity, and conduct a comprehensive study of global trends.”

Although the press release by the PMD was somewhat couched in a diplomatic language despite it emphasizing that the sectoral committee’s pronouncement lacked both a logical or scientific data analysis, the response from the former Director General of the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission, Professor Rohan Samarajeeva (RS), was far more devastating. He implied that “National Security” is being used as a bogeyman to prevent a much-needed reform initiative that the country requires to extricate itself from the economic catastrophe we have been subjected to. In a wide-ranging television interview lasting more than 30 minutes, he dealt with many of the concerns the sectoral committee had listed.

The PMD also stated that at the National Security Council meeting held on June 13, 2023, it had been revealed that the sectoral committee had not obtained any information from the relevant authorities responsible for national security. I have not seen any statement from Weerasekera contradicting the PMD release. Another question that needs to be raised is why the sectoral committee on national security did not consult an expert like Samarajeeva before making public their view. Whilst he might not be an expert on national security similar to, I presume, most members of the sectoral committee, he is an expert on telecommunication technology well versed in the latest safeguards adopted worldwide. In most countries, telecommunication providers are private enterprises, with many having foreign shareholders similar to our own Sri Lanka Telecom, Dialog and many others.

It appears that our parliamentarians have not learnt from the mistakes they made in the recent past, where ill-informed and hasty decisions were made without sufficient knowledge and input from experts with catastrophic consequences to the public. The list is too numerous, but a few come to mind, like the decision of former President Gotabhya Rajapaksa to slash taxes that caused a significant reduction in government revenue, the overnight banning of the use of chemical fertiliser that has resulted in a substantial decrease in crops ranging from rice and vegetables to tea, converting the Central Bank to a printing press with excessive money printing causing hyperinflation, maintaining a fixed and unrealistic exchange rate that resulted in remittances from overseas through the official banking sector to plummet, the overnight termination of the Japanese funded light rail project thus causing immense damage to our much-cherished relationship with Japan and the refusal to allow the burial of covid victims that caused tremendous pain of mind to the Muslim community.

All the above decisions have had severe repercussions on the public. No doubt, an independent review would conclude that all these decisions resulted from incompetence based on a lack of knowledge and skill and the stubborn refusal to seek expert advice on the subject matter. I recall listening to a former senior officer of the Central Bank (CBSL) lamenting that when she attended various committee meetings of the government and the parliament as a representative of the CBSL, she observed that most had not read the papers submitted and the few that had read the documents did not understand the content.

Our politicians have long been accused of making decisions intending to stoke nationalistic, religious and ethnic hatred. I presume the observance of such led to the Venerable Ajahn Brahim advising the President to devote his energies to making Sri Lanka a more forgiving country!

I recently authored an article published in the Sunday Island titled ” Why the Government should sell even profit-making state-owned enterprises.” In that article, I made a financial case supporting my thinking. It is doubtful that our politicians have a grasp of such financial decision-making options. This country would not be bankrupt had our politicians understood such options.

I believe economic mismanagement resulting in the lack of financial resources by the actions of the Gotabaya Rajapaksa government and predecessors would have negatively impacted national security. As to why those who today are shouting about national security and their opposition to selling profit-making state-owned enterprises remained silent is a valid question to be posed. A recent survey conducted by LIRNEasia, a research agency, revealed that since 2019 an additional four million people have fallen into poverty. Approximately seven million people, representing nearly one-third of the population, live in poverty.

Finally, I am shocked that those at the forefront of advocating and pronouncing economic reforms and other policy alternatives are the same people who are responsible for making the life of most in our country absolutely unbearable. It is unbelievable that they still dare to come before the public and speak about how the country should be run and have expectations to contest future elections. In the immediate aftermath of the Aragalya, many of these people went underground and remained silent, but unfortunately, it seems they are now back to business confidently pronounce how the country should be run.